Date: Tue, 16 Mar 1999 06:23:12 -0700 (MST) From: Russet McMillan Subject: 3.5m Night Log 990315 Apache Point Observatory, Sunspot, NM Monday, March 15th, 1999 3.5-meter Night Observing Log Actual ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ASTRONOMER OBSERVER(S) INSTRUMENT DATE START FINISH ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Galarza Galarza SPIcam 3/15 19:33 23:58 Strauss Fan,Strauss DIS 3/16 00:20 04:51 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- INST SCHEDULED WEATH EQUIP OBS DAY NOTUSED I/RS/DN START FINISH D B D B D B USE D B ---------------------------------------------------------------------- NM02/R 19:33 00:10 4.6 - 0 - 0 - 0 0 - PU01/R 00:10 04:51 0 - 0 - 4.7 - 0 0 - -------------- Activity Log -------------- 1st Half Observing Specialist: N.C.Hastings 2nd Half Observing Specialist: R.McMillan The telescope was not opened during first half due to clouds. Salman Hameed gave his scheduled NM05 time over to NM02. The clouds cleared off around the beginning of second half and I opened. There was some delay in getting started because the guider was not fully set up, and the TCC hung up on gcam commands and had to be restarted. Dust counts were moderately high (2000-3000) for all of second half. While we were using the horizon rotation, there were multiple occurrences of the guider error "center is not highest pixel." This appears to be a self-propagating error, since one un-centroided image can cause all the rest to be off. However, repeatedly stopping and restarting the guider was only partially successful in clearing the problem, and it did reappear frequently. I saved several of the images for Russ Owen to look at: gSav1.fit through gSav4.fit in the guider directory on tycho. It would be nice to be able to set the size of the error box for centroiding, especially when guiding in horizon rotation. OBSERVER COMMENTS M. Strauss (PU01): Another good night, although poor sky conditions slowed us down in the beginning of our run. FOCUS LOG March 15th 1999 Best Telescope Temp Wind Seeing Time Instrmnt Focus Az El Air/Truss Dir MPH filter FWHM" --------------------------------------------------------------------- 01:00 slitcam -200(6278) 122 39 5.9/6.3 205 25 -- ? WEATHER LOG March 15th 1999 Wind Time Temp-F Dewp-F MPH Direction Dust Sky Precip ------------------------------------------------------------------ 16:01 51 8 20 224 (SW) 1740 ptly cldy none 17:01 48 6 11 215 (SW) 2038 ptly cldy none 18:01 46 5 12 198 (SSW) 2040 ptly cldy none 19:01 45 3 14 183 (S) 2668 mstly cldy none 20:01 46 3 15 179 (S) 2713 mstly cldy none 21:01 44 4 13 172 (S) 2366 mstly cldy none 22:01 44 3 17 170 (S) 1917 ptly cldy none 23:01 45 3 25 163 (SSE) 2009 ptly cldy none 00:01 44 3 22 181 (S) 1772 ptly cldy none 01:01 43 3 10 203 (SSW) 2138 ptly cldy none 02:01 42 2 6 264 (W) 2524 mstly clr none 03:01 40 1 7 269 (W) 2653 mstly clr none 04:01 40 0 12 283 (WNW) 2413 ptly cldy none 05:01 40 -1 15 236 (SW) 2466 ptly cldy none note: the wind was coming from the azimuth listed. The convention used is north=0 degrees, east=90 degrees. The dust count is for the particles > 1 micron per 0.1 cu.ft. TELESCOPE STATUS Primary, secondary, and tertiary mirrors in place and collimated. Primary support system operational. Mirror ventilation system in place. Telescope drives operational. Current Remark version: 2.54b4 Current guide software version: GIm Ctrl v3.0b 17.out - NCH, RM